Ryan cruises for Twins in final Spring Training start against Red Sox
Joe Ryan was pitching a clinic against the best hitters in the Boston Red Sox lineup and making it look easy. Almost effortlessly as the Minnesota Twins coasted to a 9-3 victory in front of a sold-out crowd for the last Spring Training game of the season at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers.
This from a guy whose brilliant season last year would have qualified him as one of the top five pitchers in the American League but whose year was cut short by a shoulder injury.
Ryan’s breaking pitches were getting over easy for strikes that Red Sox batters were looking at as they swung through a steady diet of 92-93 mph sinkers.
Ryan said his stuff didn’t even feel as electric as he was looking for even though he struck out four while limiting the Red Sox to three hits over four and two-third innings. “I didn’t feel as electric as normal,” he said after limiting the Red Sox to just one earned run that he was charged on after he exited the game and Rafael Devers hit a line drive off reliever Jaylen Nowlin that drove in the lone run of the game for the Red Sox.
Ryan said he was still getting into his rhythm on the mound though he feels better in camp this spring than last, knowing his sweeper, splitter and sinker works. Ryan threw a heavy dose of sinkers to the Red Sox on Sunday, while keeping them off balance with changeups and a host of breaking ball pitches that make him one of the toughest pitchers to face in baseball.
His .985 WHIP placed him in the top five in the majors last year for those with 135 innings pitchers or more. Hitters batted just .217 against him, which put him just behind National League Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale, who was 10th in the majors with a .216 batting average against.
Ryan said he was surprised at some of the “uncharacteristically uncomfortable looking swings” he saw from the Red Sox hitters on Sunday as he induced four swinging strikeouts. Ryan’s pitches resulted in 14 swings and misses, not counting foul balls, from the Red Sox hitters.
Ryan struck out Triston Casas on a 93 mph fastball, Kristian Campbell on a 92 mph sinker, Devers on a 92 mph sinker and Bregman on an 88 mph splitter.
“My lower-half felt good,” he said. “That’s the biggest component that I look at. Do I feel good on my legs?”
Ryan’s delivery starts with a leg kick where he brings his knee up above his waist, generating a motion that has confounded hitters since he led the minor leagues in strikeout as a prospect with the Rays organization. Ryan said staying “consistent with my delivery” was what he has been focusing on most as he makes a full recovery from an injury that shortened his season last year.
Ryan also credited catcher Christian Vasquez with a good game behind the plate. This was their first time together in a game this Spring Training. Ryan said Vasquez is “awesome” at setting up hitters. Vasquez said after the game that Ryan has “a great arm.” Vasquez said the Twins will have a chance to go far this season if their pitching and defense performs well. “We are in a good place,” he said.
Ryan said he is expecting a good season from the Twins. “This is a good group,” he said. “Everyone is playing hard. It’s relaxed but we know what we need to do and that is always a good place to be. Everybody is getting their work in. I think the team is ready to roll.”
If Ryan was the star of the game, Twins outfielder Austin Martin was the second start of the game with two doubles and two runs scored.
The performance by Ryan and the Twins was all the more impressive in that they didn’t have a single starter in the lineup Sunday.
The game was supposed to have Ryan match up against Red Sox righty Walker Buehler. Buehler, who was signed by the team after closing out the World Series championship for the Dodgers last fall, didn’t start due to a stomach big.
Cooper Criswell made the start in his place and was hit hard from the sound of the bell, with Twins second baseman rocking a homer off the sidearmer in the first at-bat of the game. Gaspar would later exit the game after colliding with shortstop Brandon Winkour on a defensive miscue on a ball hit right up the middle.
After giving up two runs, Criswell was relieved by Garrett Whitlock, a hard-throwing righty, in the third inning. Criswell didn’t fare much better despite a lively 97 mph fastball. Whitlock was relieved in the fourth inning after giving up three runs on four hits, though he struck out four.
One of the pitchers that looked good for the Red Sox on Sunday was veteran lefty Matt Moore, once one of the top prospects in baseball, but now a 35-year-old journeyman who had a clean inning in the fifth. Moore allowed no baserunners while getting soft contact. Red Sox Manager Alex Cora said he sees “a path” for Moore to make the club and said his “breaking balls looks good, changeup looks good.” Moore threw four scoreless innings of relief in Spring Training this year after throwing for the Angels last year.
Rafael Devers, batting in the designated hitter hole after a Spring Training controversy when he said at the camp he would refuse to hit as the designated hitter, had two hard-hit line drive singles up the middle.
Devers appeared to be holding his bat much higher in the box during the game than he has in previous seasons. Asked whether Devers had changed his stance at all, Cora said “not that I have noticed.”
Devers wasn’t made available on Sunday by the team.
Last year after the last game of Spring Training in Fort Myers, Cora gave his team a “B” when asked to grade their spring camp. Asked for a similar assessment of his team after they played their last game in Fort Myers for Spring Training on Sunday, Cora said he would wait to see how they play in Mexico in two exhibition games against the Mexican League Sultanes. “We still have two more games,” Cora said. Cora said staying healthy “is a challenge.”
The team is without starters Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito, who are out with injuries. Cora said both pitchers are “trending in the right direction.” Giolito is returning from Tommy John surgery and then had a setback with a hamstring injury.
Cora said both could return sometime later in April.
“Is it perfect? No? We would love to have them,” Cora said.
“We are getting challenged right away not only by this, with injuries, but at the same time the schedule,” Cora said. “We will be OK. I think we are in a good spot. We have a good baseball team and we will be ready for the challenge.”
The Red Sox finished their Spring Training season with a record of 15-12 and will start the regular season on Thursday against the Rangers in Texas. The Twins finished Spring Training with a record of 11-15 and will face the Cardinals on Opening Day in St. Louis.